So, here’s the other way it might go down.

Or up.

Or in some generally more interesting direction that the gloom- and doomsaying you generally hear when the advertising chattering class starts vomiting about generative AI.

All kicked off by a thought from the remarkable Bob Brihn, or at least the brilliantly inventive spirit that inhabits his impressively bearded head. His argument, at least as I’d set it up, goes like so:

Jay Pattisall, the Forrester Research advertising analyst is back, and this time with a doozy of a prediction: starting in 2024, the big gun advertising battle will be waged between large agencies, each vying to build brand-proprietary AI platforms for their clients.  

First you hear Noam Chomsky, as reported by the remarkable Ernie Schenk, calling it “high-tech plagiarism. Then you dial in the “godfather” of the technology, Geoffrey Hinton, who warns us of its dangers. All while the entirety of formerly-FAANG-now-MAANG giants are scrambling as fast as their little coding fingers can fly to build the competition-terminators of their dreams. 

In the beginning there were just the three TV networks: Peacock, Tiffany, and Huntley-Brinkley or whatever they called ABC at the time. That is, until Murdoch begat Fox, but that’s a cautionary homily for another time. Anyway, then did the pundits, critics, talking heads, and soothsayers soothsay: “this gonna play hell with theatrical cinema, movie theaters are toast.”

“How about nobody calls Twitter, X, or Facebook, Meta?” he asked. “A rose by any other name…” I mumbled….“…is just a weed,” she said, drilling the pigskin over the uprights.

What makes an ad “great?” Is it a measure of sales value, creative novelty, cultural impact, or historical moment?

Well, maybe not the worst for unerring arbiters like authors Dave Eggers, Emma Specter, and William Gibson; they can do whatever they damned well please. But for those of us who spend our more pedestrian days sweating profusely and pounding keys in the dust, insect, and bone-choked vineyard that is modern advertising, it really touched a nerve.

Tuned into the Zoom seminar late, but not too late to catch this grabber, courtesy of the dept. of choking clouds and silver linings via New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose. Soon, virtually all emails will be written, parsed, and responded to by AI. No sloth-like meatware invited, or required.

In a brilliant Substack post, Reggie James, founder, CEO, and designer at Eternal, goes both long and deep with an article titled “Anticipation is Culture.” In broad strokes, it’s about the nature of a society so bedazzled by the thrill of what’s coming that arrival becomes anticlimactic.

“What’s your first reaction to Twitter’s rebrand to X?” “Possibly, the biggest unforced error in branding history.” And that, of the many available methods, is one way to jump down the rabbit hole of becoming part of the public conversation. The end result of my discussion with the SF Examiner’s stellar reporter, Benjamin Pimentel, is reprinted below, in case you’re interested.

The Reductionist is really growing to love The Economist, and not just for the famous ads-in-the-red-box they’ve put out over the years. Since deciding to pay the paywall piper, I’ve been consistently impressed by the thinking, the “there’s more to the damned planet than just US” insights, and, yeah, the writing. In that spirit, here’s a goody excepted from this morning’s highly relevant missal:

Since everyone and their crazy tweeting uncle is weighing in on the Chris Licht topping at CNN, I can’t resist joining the chant. This comes from smidge of experience: mid-aughts, I had a minutes-long brush up against the network as a small part of a tiny squad that was brought in to help another quickly fired CNN CEO parse a brand path forward.

Then there was this Ad Age headline that started with “Future of Chief Metaverse Officer: How Brands are Rethinking Future of Web 3.0.”  Full stop.

You mean there’s such a thing as a CMO, with the “M” meaning metaverse? 

Talk about a disturbance in the Force. As someone who prides their own damn selves on keeping up with the industry’s latest and leastest, I clearly missed the digital boat on this one.

Then there’s the famous Picasso quote, “good artists copy, great artists steal.” Offers a sort of moral air cover for those of us who make no claim to greatness, but are in a larcenous frame of mind. Or, at least, its plagiaristic equivalent.

“ChatGPT meets Robinhood? New investing app features AI-powered portfolio mentor.” – CNBC 4/27/23

It’s good.

It’s evil.

It’s happening all at once.

It’s endlessly evolving.

According to a recent survey conducted by something called “The Influencer Marketing Factory”—no whiff of self-interest there—58% of American adults are now following a “virtual influencer” on social media.

George Tannenbaum was kind enough to share this documentary with his large audience of readers, and I can think of no better public service to fellow sufferers in adland than to post it again.

The advertising sky is falling, the advertising sky is falling.

Isn’t it? Isn’t it?

Could be. Although economist Paul Krugman’s analysis might lead the curious to wonder if our recessionary demise might be a shade over-reported.

Even the youngest stan of big red trucks, clambering ladders, clanging bells, and flashing lights knows about sticking your head in front of a firehose: water up the schnoz, undertow ears, soggy hair, hypothermic shivers to follow. So, you ask, why bother trying to keep up with the rage fest about AI replacing thee and me that’s eating up the ad business?